Building a Scholarship of Assessment

In this book, leading experts in the field examine the current state of assessment practice and scholarship, explore what the future holds for assessment, and offer guidance to help educators meet these new challenges. The contributors root assessment squarely in several related disciplines to provide an overview of assessment practice and scholarship that will prove useful to both the seasoned educator and those new to assessment practice. Ultimately, Building a Scholarship of Assessment will help convince skeptics who still believe outcomes assessment is a fad and will soon fade away that this is an interdisciplinary area with deep roots and an exciting future.

Preface ix The Authors xiii Part One: History and Current Status of Assessment 1 1 An Emerging Scholarship: A Brief History of Assessment 3 Peter T. Ewell 2 Promoting Academic Improvement: Organizational and Administrative Dynamics That Support Student Assessment 26 Marvin W. Peterson and Derek S. Vaughan Part Two: Theoretical Foundations of Assessment 47 3 The Roots of Assessment: Tensions, Solutions, and Research Directions 49 Peter J. Gray 4 A Scholar–Practitioner Model for Assessment 67 T. Dary Erwin and Steven L. Wise 5 Enacting a Collaborative Scholarship of Assessment 82 Marcia Mentkowski and Georgine Loacker 6 The Scholarly Assessment of Student Development 100 George D. Kuh, Robert M. Gonyea, and Daisy P. Rodriguez Part Three: Methods of Assessment 129 7 Measurement Issues in Outcomes Assessment 131 Gary R. Pike 8 Web Applications in Assessment 148 Mark D. Shermis and Kathryn E. Daniels 9 Information Support for Assessment 167 Victor M. H. Borden Part Four: Scholarly Assessment 183 10 Engaging and Supporting Faculty in the Scholarship of Assessment: Guidelines from Research and Best Practice 185 Thomas Anthony Angelo 11 Scholarly Assessment of Student Learning in the Major and General Education 201 Catherine A. Palomba 12 Program Review: A Spectrum of Perspectives and Practices 223 Karen E. Black and Kimberly A. Kline 13 Accreditation and the Scholarship of Assessment 240 Barbara D. Wright Part Five: Toward a Scholarship of Assessment 259 14 Characteristics of Effective Outcomes Assessment: Foundations and Examples 261 Trudy W. Banta 15 A Call for Transformation 284 Trudy W. Banta References 293 Name Index 319 Subject Index 325

Trudy W. Banta is vice chancellor for panning and institutional improvement at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis. She is a widely acknowledged leader in the field of assessment. Banta is the coauthor or editor of several books on assessment, including Assessment Essentials: Planning, Implementing , and Improving Assessment in Higher Education (Jossey–Bass, 1999). She is also the editor of the Jossey–Bass bimonthly Assessment Update .